Herhold: An old-school San Jose barber leaves a legacy

Carlos Diaz was an old-school barber, a guy who offered a meticulous haircut for $12 -- nothing fancy, nothing stylized, just a promise that he could improve your appearance before you left the Golden Wheel Barber Shop.

For 46 years, two generations of hair, he worked solo out of a strip mall on Old Oakland Road, across from the county offices on Berger Drive. When he died on July 15 as the result of a heart attack, legions of his customers mourned.

"He gave me my first haircut when I was 4, and I am 37 now,'' wrote one Yelp reviewer. "It was a bonding time for me and my father, and I was hoping to take my son there as well (who is to be born this week).''

Carlos Diaz, who operated the Golden Wheel Barber Shop at 1460 Old Oakland Road, died on July 15, 2013.
(Courtesy Diaz family)

Nothing about the Golden Wheel defied tradition. The shop had checkerboard linoleum, two vintage Koken barber chairs, a simple cash drawer and a historical picture of four barbers. It was a place infused with KLIV radio, the musk of after-shave, the stropping of a straight razor.

"He was dedicated to preserving that old-fashioned sense of barber shop,'' said his granddaughter, Kelly Mendez. "It was a meeting place for men, where you could get a great haircut from a barber who became a friend to many of them.''

At 76, Carlos Diaz had spent nearly his entire life in San Jose, though he was born in Santa Paula, the youngest of 10 siblings. He was knowledgeable about his city's history -- and proud of it. He knew how to carry a conversation, but like most successful barbers, he was a diplomat worthy of a posting to Rome.

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A way to talk

"He was priceless with his haircuts, priceless with his discussions,'' said another Yelp reviewer. "He did not so much initiate discussion, as he deepened it. He had his opinions, but he found a way to wrap it around, or blend it into a conversation without alienating your own opinion.''

Diaz's life was not without challenges. He and his wife of 52 years, Olga, had two children, one a son with Down syndrome, Carlos Diaz Jr., who has lived with his parents his whole life at their Morrison Avenue home west of downtown.

The barber found a way to celebrate that relationship. He and his son, a huge Elvis Presley fan, once flew to Memphis to tour Graceland, the Presley mansion. "My uncle will never forget that,'' Mendez said.

Woodworking

At home, the Air Force veteran relaxed through woodworking, building wagons, tables and chairs for his two granddaughters. He was precise, but he knew how to improvise. He preached that quality to his granddaughters.

Though he had talked about retiring, Diaz was still a vigorous man, always embarking on some new task. So longtime customers were stunned to see the message on the shop door that he had died. Yelp transmitted the news swiftly.

"It was very unexpected, because he was such an active man,'' Mendez told me. "Everyone's feeling a loss because he was such a constant figure in so many people's lives.''

For a man who offered a straightforward $12 haircut in one place for so many years, that's no bad epitaph. At the Golden Wheel, Carlos Diaz made more than a livelihood.